Florida Court Says Limitation of Liability In Consultant's Contract Is Unenforceable Against Individual Consultant - Part 2
In recent post, Florida Court Says Limitation of Liability In Consultant's Contract Is Unenforceable Against Individual Consultant Part -1, we talked about the recent Florida case on limitations of liability in a consultant's professional services contract - Witt v. La Gorce Country Club, Inc. In that case, Florida's Third District Court of Appeal held that an individual consultant can't enforce the limitation of liability in his design firm's design services contract against the negligence claims of a dissatisfied client. Today we'll talk about how
that case could affect you if you're:
- An engineer, architect, other design professional, one of their insurers, or one of their lenders
- A prime contractor or subcontractor
- An owner
- A construction lender lending money to an owner
How Could This Case Affect You?
If you're an engineer, architect, or other design professional. This case is bad for you. It re-affirms and expands the Florida Supreme Court's 1999 decision in Moransais v. Heathman. That case says, among other things, that your professional firm can't contractually limit its liability for professional malpractice. Under this new case, you can't limit your individual liability either. Your insurers aren't going to like this case either. If your firm has professional errors and omission liability insurance, the policy probably also covers you individually as an insured too. This is one more liability you won't be able to contractually limit. That increases your insurer's risk. And that usually prompts your insurance underwriters to raise your premiums.
Construction Law Today is a legal blog about construction contracts, disputes, finance, and the people whose job it is to deal with them.
